Children's home run by Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council in Sefton

Inspection report children’s home: SC036298 1 SC036298 Registered provider: Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This local authority children’s home provides a short-break service for up to five children at any time, who have learning and/or physical disabilities, and/or complex health needs.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 September 2017

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 20 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children’s home: SC036298 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children who have disabilities and/or multiple complex health needs thoroughly enjoy their short breaks at this home.  An experienced and dedicated staff team, whose members know the children extremely well, provides highly personalised care that takes into account each child’s individual needs, personalities and interests.  Staff support children to practise their life skills during their visits. This is helping children to become more independent and better equipped for adulthood.  Children thoroughly enjoy spending time with staff, attending local clubs and activities and making new friends when they visit this home.  Staff are skilled at communicating with children, using various methods in accordance with each child’s particular needs and preference. This makes sure that children understand their routines and are involved in decision-making during their visits.  Children are safe and secure when they visit this home.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff develop and maintain excellent working relationships with parents, social workers and schools. As a result, children benefit from continuity in all aspects of their lives.  A highly motivated, dedicated and experienced registered manager and deputy support the team well. They prioritise children’s welfare and have a good understanding of the service’s strengths and areas of development.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The home has not always made suitable placement decisions.  Some staff are still not receiving regular professional supervision.  Restraint records are still not providing sufficient detail and children’s records continue to omit the date and author.  Independent advocacy for all children can improve. Inspection report children’s home: SC036298 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/09/2016 Full Good 30/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/12/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC036298 4

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home –

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) and (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, only provide short-break care, for which the service is intended, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. 03/11/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, providing professional supervision to all staff, including the registered manager, consistently. 03/11/2017

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Requirement Due date

35: Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes:

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration; details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; and a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure; 03/11/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC036298 5 and within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (‘the authorised person’) has spoken to the user about the measure; has signed the record to confirm it is accurate;

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Requirement Due date

and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(a) (iv)(v)(viii) (b) and (c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensuring that restraint records provide all of the information required under regulation.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child, which are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, providing all staff, including the registered manager, regular supervision at all times. 03/11/2017

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Recommendations

 Ensure that all children have access to appropriate advocacy support, and where possible this should be provided by a person that the child chooses. Looked-after children are entitled to an independent advocate to advise them and ensure they have the support needed to express their views, wishes and feelings about their care and lives. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 23, paragraph 4.16) Inspection report children’s home: SC036298 6

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The service provides short-break care to 33 children who have learning and physical disabilities. Some children also have complex health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy, safe and content during their short-break visits. Observations of their positive and warm interactions with staff and each other show this. Children enjoy laughing and joking with staff and each other, listening and dancing to music and using the home’s wide range of resources, such as the computer and sensory room. Staff make sure that each child feels welcome, special and unique during their stay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop and maintain excellent working relationships with parents. Parents’ comments reflect this: ‘Staff are fantastic, amazing and absolutely outstanding. They take on board everything I say.’ ‘I feel that we work together as a team to make sure that we are all doing our best for my son and I always feel my opinions are valued.’ ‘The home gives my child a break from home life and she looks forward to her stays there.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff members’ comprehensive understanding of each child’s specific needs, interests and character helps them to personalise children’s care. Children can choose which room they sleep in during their visits and staff make sure that their bedrooms reflect their individual taste, for example by dressing their rooms with items that they particularly like. As a result, children are familiar with their surroundings and this helps them to settle and feel safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A highly competent team supports children to develop their self-care skills and independence. Staff encourage and help children to bathe, brush their teeth, shop and do their own laundry. Detailed independent plans, combined with staff’s partnership working with families and schools, are helping children to grow and develop in accordance with their individual ability and level of understanding. Children’s increased independence further enhances their welfare and safety because they are less dependent on others to provide intimate personal care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children clearly make continuous progress because of their visits to this home. The home’s photo albums and the children’s progress trackers confirm this. Staff have helped children to improve their communication, sleep patterns and personal care skills. Good routines and consistent care make sure that children are ready to attend school and continue to learn and develop. Furthermore, children’s social skills improve through attending local activities, such as swimming, the arcades and a recent trip to Blackpool lights.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff carefully plan each child’s stay, taking into consideration the possible influences that children may have on each other. Whenever possible, they make sure that children visit at the same time as their friends or with children whom they are familiar with and have built up positive relationships with. This enhances a happy and peaceful environment where children are helped to feel safe. Inspection report children’s home: SC036298 7 On one occasion, the local authority accommodated a young person at the home. This was outside of the home’s intended purpose, which is to provide short-break care only. In addition, the staff team struggled to meet this young person’s specific needs and to ensure all children’s safety. A further decision to put on hold any short-break visits was also made. This placement decision prevented 33 children from using the service for 10 weeks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager challenged this decision; however, the responsible individual agreed to the placement because there was no other provision available at the time. When the local authority identified a new placement, the staff team successfully supported the young person’s move. While the young person was living at the home, staff worked tirelessly with all professionals involved to promote the young person’s needs as best as they possibly could. A professional’s email to the registered manager demonstrates this: ‘Hi, Diane, I just wanted to say how impressed I have been by your staff team. They have to date refused to fold and are using analytical appraisals around behaviour.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team advocate for children and have their welfare and interests at the centre of their practice. Staff expertly encourage and support every child to express their wishes and feelings and make choices in a meaningful way, including those who do not communicate verbally. This often involves using different communication tools as well as skilfully interpreting children’s body language and facial expressions. However, independent advocacy is an area for development. At times, children have not had access to independent advocacy to help them challenge decisions made by the local authority, which directly affected them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Detailed short-break plans, risk assessments and behaviour management plans identify children’s needs and vulnerabilities well. In addition, they provide clear and effective guidance to staff. Nevertheless, a requirement raised at the last inspection in relation to staff dating and signing all children’s documents has been repeated. Several documents, including risk assessments, behaviour management and independence plans still have no date or author’s name on them. This can potentially undermine the monitoring and evaluation of children’s progress.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children’s safety is a high priority. Proficiently trained staff identify and respond to different types of risk extremely well. This can involve reporting and managing child protection concerns, or administering emergency rescue medication to children with complex medical conditions such as epilepsy.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Parents are confident in staff’s ability to keep their children safe during their stay. A parent said, ‘The home has an excellent understanding of [Name of young person]’s safety needs and staff do everything possible to ensure the safety of my son and will discuss issues with me so we can work together to achieve the best possible outcome for everyone.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC036298 8 Currently, safeguarding concerns, such as going missing from home, exploitation, substance misuse and/or radicalisation are not an issue for the children visiting this service. Nevertheless, staff are alert to such dangers and they have received training on such matters. Therefore, should these concerns ever arise, staff are fully equipped with the knowledge and skills to identify signs and respond accordingly.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff are confident in their roles and they understand each child’s strengths and areas of particular vulnerability. Activity risk assessments and children’s individualised risk management plans enable children to take appropriate risks and prevent unnecessary restrictions on their activities. Under staff supervision, children play freely in the home’s garden, where they enjoy relaxing on the swing, burning energy on the trampoline and riding the home’s tricycles. Children also enjoy trips to the local park, where they can meet and interact with other children of a similar age. The home expertly balances risk with children’s rights to learn, play and develop. Consequently, children flourish and continually develop in a supportive and safe environment.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff understand and manage children’s behaviour particularly well. Staff use their in- depth knowledge of the children to recognise triggers to unsafe behaviour. Staff quickly pick up when a child is distressed or anxious and swiftly deter potentially harmful behaviour. This often involves calmly reassuring a child, distracting them or giving them a comforting item, for example a personal blanket or toy. What is more, children’s trusting relationships with staff help them to feel emotionally safe and secure, which encourages positive behaviour.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Physical intervention and the use of restraint are rare in this short-break service. However, when they occur, the records do not provide sufficient detail. In particular, records do not provide a clear description of the measure used; its duration; details of any injury; action taken by staff to prevent the need to use a restraint; or a debrief of the staff and child involved. Such recording shortfalls compromise independent scrutiny of the incident and potentially jeopardise any future investigation into the incident.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A highly experienced, suitably qualified and dedicated registered manager competently leads the service. Without a doubt, she is child-centred, putting children’s needs and their welfare first. Children make good progress and the consistent positive feedback from parents and professionals demonstrated this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

All staff said that they feel wholly supported by the registered manager and the deputy manager. However, the decision to accommodate a young person at the home, outside of its intended purpose, had a significant impact on the team. During this time, staff, including the registered manager, did not receive regular professional supervision. This denied them the opportunity, at a crucial time, to reflect on their practice, formally raise any issues and concerns and identify additional areas of support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff describe training as a strength of the service. They enjoy a varied training Inspection report children’s home: SC036298 9 programme, which also provides them with further opportunities to meet up with other professionals and share their learning and experiences. Staff also benefit from specialist training in response to children’s specific needs, for example epilepsy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective internal and external monitoring systems ensure that the service continues to provide a high standard of care. The manager is totally committed to providing children with happy experiences when they visit the home. She has a good understanding of the service’s strengths, which include a highly experienced, dedicated and child-centred team, as well as staff’s ability to develop and maintain excellent relationships with children, parents and other professionals. Likewise, she fully recognises the areas for development, which are largely around improving the recording of information, staff supervision and making sure that the service is used only for the purpose for which it is intended.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC036298 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: People Directorate, 9th Floor, Merton House, Stanley, Bootle, Merseyside L20 3JA

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Inspector

Marina Tully, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC036298 11 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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